Family
by Flibber T. Gibbet
Summary: Uchihas were not perfect by any means. But they were infinitely better than other people. But what most people forgot was that, despite everything, they were only human. They had their own little joys. They had their own problems.


Family

Flibber T. Gibbet

Rated: T

Disclaimer: For the seventeenth, I don't own Naruto.

Author's Note: I don't have much to say. In fact, I have absolutely nothing at all.

* * *

Family was great.

Family was beautiful.

Family was something you were stuck with for the rest of your goddamn life.

* * *

Uchihas were not perfect by any means. But they were infinitely better than other people.

But what most people forgot was that, despite everything, they were only human. They had their own little joys. They had their own problems.

* * *

"Don't you dare talk back to me!" Uchiha Fugaku yelled. He screamed. He threatened.

"I'll talk however I want to talk. You don't own me." Uchiha Mikoto was frigid fury. She cut with sharp, icy words as well as she did with the cool, metal kunai that rest against her leg.

"I own you. You are mine. And I don't want what is mine disrespecting me. I am the master of this household. You would be better off saying nothing against me." He needed his control to hold his world together.

"You're a pathetic excuse for a man," she said derisively.

"I'll fucking shatter your skull like your porcelain shit."

* * *

Sometimes, when they yelled -_screamed, threatened_- behind locked doors, and all the noise stopped abruptly, Sasuke thought his father had followed through with his constant threat. He imagined unlocking the heavy door and seeing his father standing over Mikoto's -_Mother_- bloody, bruised corpse, showing the same indifference he showed everything else, hands stained red clasped innocently behind his back.

Sasuke saw that image replayed over and over again much too often in his mind.

* * *

Itachi didn't care.

He didn't act like he didn't care or fake indifference.

He just didn't care.

Why should he? It wasn't his business what his parents did.

If he was in a relatively good mood, he would wonder why his parents just didn't get a divorce.

But then he remembered.

Marriage was not something to be taken lightly. Both his parents felt obligated to the vows they had taken so many years ago, their own feelings be damned. And besides, what would the others think?

And then Itachi's moment of giving a damn ended.

* * *

It was a rather large house for only four people.

Five.

But Sasuke didn't like considering the fifth person. He was perfectly with just his mother and father, even when they fought, and his brother, even when his aniki ignored him. They were a complete, albeit dysfunctional, set and didn't need another person.

He didn't want his grandmother with them.

His father's mother, she was a powerful presence behind her defenseless act.

Sasuke often swore she was purposely ignoring him.

She was pampered by his mother. There was always time for her, but Sasuke had to fend for himself. No one ever yelled at her, even when she did the same things that Sasuke had been punished for. It was always for _her _good and_ what _she wanted.

And she doted on Itachi. He was such a talented, handsome boy, and Sasuke was just so lucky to have such a wonderful older brother.

That was about the only time she ever mentioned the younger Uchiha.

* * *

She knew she imposed on the household, no matter when they said.

She saw it when Sasuke visibly flinched every time she tried to talk to him.

It hurt more than she would care to admit.

* * *

Fugaku was puzzled. Why did no one understand how vital what he did was for the wellbeing of the family? Why didn't his family understand how hard it was working to maintain their family name and status? Why didn't his wife obey him like all the women he had grown up with obeyed their husbands? He just wanted respect from his willful wife, and now even his own mother was chastising him for losing his temper. Why?

* * *

Mikoto felt like she was going to break. Every day she worked for her family only to have what she did called nothing next to what her _wonderful_ husband did by said husband. Only to be taken for granted by her children. Household chores should not be only her responsibility. If the entire family wanted to eat, then they should all at least help with making the food or cleaning up afterwards. Was it so hard to put your dishes in the sink?

* * *

"I'll beat you if you raise your voice at me on more bloody time" It was a sudden outburst of unprecedented intensity.

"Calm down. I wasn't yelling." A mixture of surprise, derision, and weariness laced her words.

"If you keep on shouting, I want you out of my life. I'll fucking _beat_ you out of my life."

He had never gone so far before.

* * *

She spent the day in a guest bedroom, wrapped in a cocoon of blankets. Fugaku had stormed out and returned hours later, considerably calmer and more than a little tipsy. He had tried coaxing her out. She had cried.

Sasuke tensed in his room. His head was buried in pillows, but every word was excruciatingly clear. He cried too.

* * *

"I'm sorry." No sincere contrition could be heard. He was mouthing the words and hoping it ended soon. It was embarrassing. For the both of them

"You always say that."

"I won't yell anymore."

"Every few months we go through this and you always promise to stop and _nothing ever changes!_" Her voice reached shrilly heights before fading to sniffling whispers.

"I only yell because you yell. If you stop yelling, I won't have to yell." This was his reasoning and made perfect sense in his head.

"My head is hurting. Just go away." Her voice sounded oddly final.

"Come down and eat something. It'll make you feel better."

"Just go away."

* * *

Itachi watched.

He watched his father laugh nervously, trying act like nothing had happened, hoping that this wouldn't be the end.

He watched his mother glare stonily, unseeingly, at the wall opposite her, still wrapped in a thick quilt.

He watched his brother's body tremble as he sobbed noiselessly in his haven of pillows.

He watched his grandmother murmur prayers in hope of something, wondering what had gone wrong.

Itachi watched and couldn't bring himself to care.

* * *

Sasuke never believed in true love.

Love was a good, pure, beautiful thing that was meant for people who deserved it.

So what did it mean if his parents didn't love each other?

Did it mean that they weren't good people?

And if they weren't, then how could Sasuke possibly deserve love?

* * *

If there was anything worse than when his parents fought, it was when they weren't and ganged up on him.

Hearing the violent wrath in his father's voice and the scathing mockery in his mother's.

Feeling the sharp sting of his mother's slaps. Being blinded with a white burst of pain as his father's knuckles left in his skull in a sharp rap.

He always ended up wishing that they would fight with each other and leave him alone.

* * *

But despite everything, they were Sasuke's family. And despite everything, he loved them. And he liked to think that, despite everything, they loved him too.

* * *

He saw them leaning against each other, closer in death than they had ever been in life.

He saw them and he saw Itachi and he broke.

And later Sasuke thought that whoever said that family was forever was a fucking liar.

* * *

Well? I know the arguments between Mikoto and Fugaku are really awkwardly written. And I can't remember how they were positioned when Sasuke found them... I'm so sorry! And what else... Review if this deserves a review. And... I dunno... Sasuke's just a little kid, and I'm not sure if his point of view reflects that... And everyone is probably OOC... Gah. And editing this... it's really disjointed too...

I remembered. There's no SasuNaru in this. Could this be considered a milestone? Shweet!

That's it and I hope that for some odd reason you actually enjoyed this.

flib forever


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